New editors at 2 Maine weeklies

BAR HARBOR, Harbor — One of the two weekly newspapers that cover Mount Desert Island has a new editor, while her predecessor is moving to a new job in Old Town.

Holly S. Anderson, daughter of Bar Harbor Times owner Richard M. Anderson, started work this week as the new editor of the Bar Harbor Times. Greg Fish, who was editor of Bar Harbor Times from 2001 until last week, has since been hired as the new editor of The Penobscot Times.

The Bar Harbor Times is owned by Village Soup, which also owns the Herald Gazette in Rockland, the Republican Journal in Belfast and Capital Weekly in Augusta. Richard M. Anderson, who lives in Camden, is CEO and president of Village Soup.

Belyea said Holly Anderson has worked for Village Soup for about 10 years, most recently as interim editor at The Republican Journal. Before that, she was a reporter and online director for the company, he said.

“She started Monday,” Belyea said of Anderson’s new job.

Belyea said one of Anderson’s objectives would be to increase local activity at the Bar Harbor Times Web site, which also features business and community Web posting services.

“What we hope Holly will bring [to the paper] are Village Soup principles [of] more active online connections with the community,” Belyea said.

Anderson had been living in Camden but has found housing in Somesville since being named Bar Harbor Times editor, according to Belyea. He said no other immediate changes at the paper are planned.

In Old Town, Penobscot Times publisher Lynn Higgins said Friday that she hired Fish on Thursday. Fish replaces C. Greta Sproul, who left the Penobscot Times to pursue a career as a screenwriter. Higgins said the option on one of Sproul’s screenplays has been bought and is expected to be made into a film.

According to Higgins, Fish will be expected to edit, write most of the copy and take photographs for the Old Town weekly. He’ll begin his new duties on Tuesday, Jan. 19, she said.

“He certainly has a lot of experience with small weekly papers,” Higgins said. “Any weekly would be happy to have him.”

Immediately before working at the Bar Harbor Times, Fish served for several months as editor of the now-defunct Ellsworth Weekly. Before that, he was editor of the Berlin Reporter in New Hampshire.

An Ellsworth resident, Fish declined Thursday to comment on his departure from the Bar Harbor Times.